CONTENTS

• Bible and Prayer.
• Mystical Theology in the Christian East.
• Other related links.
  
  

• Augustine, De doctrina Christiana (397 and 426). How to understand Scripture.

  • On Christian Doctrine. English translation by J.F. Shaw. Each book in its own file. Includes introduction by editor Philip Schaff.

• John Cassian, Conferences. (426-428). (Complete table of contents, 67K). A much briefer table of contents for the Conferences can be found on the index page for Cassian's works. Both are local files.

• The Cloud of Unknowing (14th c. anonymous English author)

  • The Cloud of Unknowing, in Middle English. [423K]. Edited by Patrick J. Gallacher. This edition originally published by TEAMS in 1997.

  • The Cloud of Unknowing, lightly translated. Modernized spelling, but almost all archaisms remain. With an introduction by Evelyn Underhill, and small glossary (1922).

• Origen (c. 185-254)

  • De principiis

    • Origen de Principiis, Book IV. English translation by F. Crombie. With notes, but is missing part of the book.

    • Origen De principiis, v4. English translation by F. Crombie of Book IV. Some scanner errors. [207K].

  • Origen on Prayer. A translation from the Greek, by William A. Curtis. Uses some Microsoft-only characters. [221K text, 2K graphic].

• Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis (190-210)

• Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-c. 394)

  • De Virginitate

    • On Virginity. English translation by William Moore, edited by Henry Wace, from A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, 2nd series, vol. 5. [152K].

  • On the Making of Man. [218K].

• Origen (c. 185-254), De principiis

  • Origen de Principiis. English translation by F. Crombie. Author's preface and each book in its own file. With notes. Book IV is incomplete.

  • Origen De principiis, v4. English translation by F. Crombie of Book IV. Some scanner errors. [207K].

• Plato (427?-347 BC)

  • Phædo. English and Greek, at the Perseus Project. Greek versions at Perseus default to Latin transliteration, but can also be viewed in Beta code or Greek font.

  • Republic.

  • Timæus. Greek and English, at the Perseus Project.

• Plotinus, The Six Enneads. (250 AD).

• Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (probably late 5th or early 6th C., Syrian)

  • The Celestial Hierarchy. Deals with the role and value of symbolism.

    • The Celestial Hierarchy. English translation. Edited by Arthur Versluis. [170K].

    • La hiérarchie céléste. French translation. [114K text, 359K graphics].

  • Mystical Theology. Short, but extremely influential. Apophatic.

    • The Mystical Theology. English translation. Edited by Arthur Versluis.

• Mother Alexandra, (H.R.H. Princess Ileana of Romania), Introduction to the Jesus Prayer.

• Bonaventure (1221-1274), Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

  • Itinerario de la mente a Dios. Spanish translation. [86K].

  • Itinerarium Mentis in Deum (The Journey of the Mind into God). Latin text of the Quarrachi edition, with English translation, in parallel columns. If you are using Lynx, you will see each Latin paragraph followed by its English translation. [173K].

• Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), Dialogue. French translation. In HTML, with each chapter in its own file.

• The Cell of Self-Knowledge: Seven Early English Mystical Treatises (1521), edited by Edmund G. Gardner. [4K text, 58K graphics]. Includes works by Richard of St. Victor, Margery Kempe, Walter Hilton, and the author of The Cloud of Unknowing.

• James Conner, The Meaning of the Contemplative Life According to Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

• Dorotheus of Gaza (fl. 540), Conferencias. In Spanish. Requires JavaScript and a 4.0 or later browser. Dorotheus was a disciple of Barsanuphius and John.

• Luis Fernando Figari, La Oración del Nombre de Jesús (1989). Requires JavaScript and a 4.0 or later browser. Historical summary of the Jesus Prayer, in Spanish.

• Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

  • Introduction à la vie dévote

    • Introduction to the Devout Life. An 1876 English edition. HTML. Not quite "correct" handling of Greek characters. All in one file, or split into seven files.

    • Introduction to the Devout Life. English translation. Available in several formats.

  • Traité de l'amour de Dieu

    • Treatise on the Love of God. Nineteenth-century English translation by Henry Benedict Mackey. Available in several formats.

• François Fénelon (1651-1715) and Jeanne Marie Guyon (1647-1717), Spiritual Progress, or, Instructions in the Divine Life of the Soul. Includes his Spiritual Letters, her book A Short and Very Easy Method of Prayer, and other works.

• Alan Godlas, Sufism (1997). Excellent concise description of Sufism, with links to other resources. Dr. Godlas teaches Islamic Studies at the University of Georgia.

• Guigo II (d. 1193), Scala claustralium. The quintessential medieval exposition of lectio divina.

  • The Ladder of Four Rungs. Translation into modern English. [54K text, 140K graphics].

• Jeanne Marie Guyon, The Autobiography of Madame Guyon.

• Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). A brief biography.

• Walter Hilton (d. 1396)

  • The Scale of Perfection. Hilton's most famous work.

    • The Scale (or Ladder) of Perfection. 1901 Benziger Brothers edition. This 1870 translation by Cressy uses modernized spelling, but otherwise an archaizing form of English.

    • The Scale of Perfection. In Middle English. Edited by Thomas H. Bestul. Each Book in its own file, with notes.

  • The Song of Angels. Short treatise by Hilton.

  • Treatise Written to a Devout Man.

• Roland Horst, Hildegard von Bingen. Good collection of resources, in German and English.

• Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises (1522-1548)

  • Spiritual Exercises, English translation.

• William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902). With study notes.

• Bruce B. Janz, Who's Who in the History of Mysticism. [53K text, 8K graphics].

• John Climacus (6th C.), La escala espiritual. Spanish translation, with Fray Luis de Granada's annotations (1551). Requires JavaScript and a 4.0 or later browser. This book, which is read each day of the Great Lent in Orthodox monasteries, expounds the steps to apatheia.

• John of the Cross (1542-1591)

  • Ascent of Mount Carmel. Peers translation.

  • Collected Works. Kavanaugh/Rodriguez translation, revised edition (1991). Online version lacks the Ascent, and omits notes.

    • General Introduction to the Collected Works of St. John of the Cross. By Kieran Kavanaugh.

    • Counsels to a Religious.

    • The Dark Night. Each chapter in its own file.

    • The Living Flame of Love.

    • Sayings of Light and Love.

    • The Spiritual Canticle. With illustrations.

  • Dark Night of the Soul. Peers translation. Available in several formats.

  • minor works. Also two short biographies.

  • Spiritual Canticle. David Lewis translation.

• Jordan of Saxony, Libellus (1231-1234).

  • The Libellus of Jordan of Saxony. 1954 English translation by R.F. Larcher, introduction by Pius Cangelosi. [172K].

• Julian of Norwich (1343-1443), Revelations of Divine Love

  • Revelations of Divine Love, lightly translated. Modernized spelling, but archaisms remain. Edited by Grace Warrack, text based on 1901 edition.

  • The Shewings of Julian of Norwich, in Middle English. [250K]. Edited by Georgia Ronan Crampton. This edition originally published by TEAMS in 1994.

• Thomas Keating, The Method of Centering Prayer. [34K text, 81K graphics].

• Margery Kempe

  • The Book of Margery Kempe. In Middle English. Edited by Lynn Staley. This edition originally published by TEAMS in 1996.

  • Treatise of Contemplation. This fragment of Margery Kempe's Book (c. 1430) was all that was known of her for over 400 years.

• Andrew J. Krivak, Prayer and Iconography: An Interview with William Hart McNichols. [25K text, 249K graphics].

• Lectio Divina. Besides information about lectio divina, also has pointers to many spiritual classics.

• Fray Luis de León, De los nombres de Cristo (1585). Requires JavaScript and a 4.0 or later browser; is too wide for smaller monitors.

• The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi (1250-1390). The Spiritual Franciscans compiled these stories which had been omitted from "official" accounts.

• Carl McColman, The Web-Site of Unknowing. [4K text, 116K graphics]. 14th-century English mystics.

• Miguel de Molinos (1628-1696), The Spiritual Guide (1675). [365K]. Quietism. This book was condemned by Pope Innocent XI in his bull Coelestis Pastor (1687).

• The Nine Ways of Prayer of St. Dominic (1260-1288)

  • The Nine Ways of Prayer of St. Dominic, Andrew Kolzow translation. [21K text, 75K graphics].

  • The Nine Ways of Prayer of St. Dominic, for graphical browsers.

  • The Nine Ways of Prayer of St. Dominic, for text-only browsers.

• Blaise Pascal

  • Memorial (1654). Complete Latin/French original, with English translation. Brief introduction in French and English.

  • Provincial Letters (1656-1657). Search tool not functioning.

  • Pensées. Was first published posthumously, in an incomplete form, in 1670. English translation by W.F. Trotter.

• Deb Platt, Mysticism in World Religions.

• Prayer without Ceasing. An excerpt from The Way of a Pilgrim (1853-1861?). A classic text which awakened Western interest in the Jesus Prayer. Images are much larger than necessary. [22K text, 81K graphics].

• Richard Rolle (1300-1349), The Fire of Love and The Amending of Life. Also includes a translation of the Legenda.

• The Rule of Benedict (early to middle 6th C.). English translation. Local file. With links to the Latin and translations in Spanish and Hungarian at remote sites.

• Jan van Ruusbroec (1293-1381)

  • The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage; The Sparkling Stone; The Book of Supreme Truth. Three of Ruusbroec's works in one big (633K) file.

  • The Sparkling Stone. Transcription of a manuscript in Middle English. Folios and rubrication indicated.

• For information about saints (autobiography, biography, hagiography), please see the Liturgical Studies section on saints.

• Michael Sidlofsky, Meditation. The Four Worlds of the Kabbalah understood as pertaining not only to G-d but also as facets of human existence. The "feeling meditation," for Vav in the Divine Name, is an aid to inner healing and growth in compassion.

• Henry Suso (c. 1295-1366), A Little Book of Eternal Wisdom (1333-1340).

• Johannes Tauler (1300-1365), The Inner Way. A collection of Tauler's sermons. Available in several formats.

• Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

  • Autobiography. (1564-1565). E. Allison Peers translation. With translator's introduction and notes. Also concordances and word frequency lists. Each chapter in its own file.

  • Interior Castle. E. Allison Peers translation. Full text and notes, concordances, word lists.

  • Santa Teresa de Jesús. In Spanish. Almost complete works. Excludes poetry, Constitutions, and letters.

  • Way of Perfection. Peers translation.

• Thomas Traherne (1636 or 1637-1674). Interesting fellow. Had the odd fortune to be first hailed as an Anglican divine, and the last of the Metaphysical poets, over two centuries after his death. Sometimes considered a "nature mystic," yet is definitely Christ-centered.

  • Centuries of Meditations. Each "century" (set of 100 meditations) in its own file.

  • Centuries of Meditations. First three "centuries" in one file; the remaining two have separate files. Available in several formats.

• Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness. 12th ed. (1930)